(a) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a device for supporting a hand roller, and more specifically, but not by way of limitation, to an adjustable support for a roller, the support cradling the user's forearm and allowing this user to vary the angle between the roller and the user's hand and forearm.
(b) Discussion of Known Art
Many of today's roofs are covered with a polymer sheet which prevents water and other elements from entering the structure protected by the roof. Unfortunately however, the installation of this roofing material cars application of heat and pressure to ensure that laminates from the polymer used to cover the roof are properly secured in to one another to produce a water tight seal between the layers of polymer material. In the construction industry it is common to use a small hand held roller, such as the roller shown in Australian Patent 183,9442 apply pressure over the seams of the laminate being pressed or squeezed together with the aid of heat.
To squeeze or press together the sheets of laminate, the user must apply a great deal of force on the handle of the roller to squeeze or bear down on the scene of the sheets of material being bonded to one another. When dealing with trick layers or sheets of material, the force which must be applied by the roofing installer can quickly wear down or fatigue even the fittest individual. This means that the job must be rotated amongst several people, or sufficient time must be allowed so that the installer can recover. Moreover, the pressure that must be delivered through the roller is transmitted directly through the wrist as a large bending moment on the wrist. This kind of stress on the wrist leads to a quick deterioration of the cartilage material and lead to ailments such as carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as other ailments.
Thus, there remains a need for a roller tool which allows efficient transfer of a force delivered by a user to the roller. Importantly, there remains a need for a tool that allows a user to transfer his body weight to the roller without placing significant bending moments on the wrist of the user.
Many hand tools use a handle to allow the user to deliver a force which in turn is used to carry out or perform some sort of work. For example, in the case of a paint roller, the handle is used to allow user to position the head of the roller over the area to be painted, and then to exert the desired force on the roller to achieve desired rolling motion over the area to be painted. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,714 to Beck a paint roller together with an adjustable means located along a component of the paint roller frame is used to allow the user to assert a force on the roller and vary the angle of the roller relative to the handle. While the Beck device is particularly advantageous for uses where different angled areas are to be painted, it does not allow the user to place a significant amount force on the roller. This limitation does not result in a significant disadvantage in the area of painting surfaces, but it is of little value in terms of a suggestion or direction for other hand tools. Importantly, the Beck device gives little clue as to how to deliver a large force to the roller without transmitting a large torque or bending moment through the user's wrist.
Other roller devices give little clue as to how to alleviate the problems associated with the need to deliver or transfer a great deal force to a hand-held roller. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,461,815 to Bird and by U.S. Pat. No. 563,044 to Lewis teach the use of a handle that is added angled to the roller of the handle allowing the user to align his forearm with the roller, while leaving the wrist closer to a natural, unstressed position relative to the forearm. Unfortunately, however, both of these devices require that the stability of the entire tool depend on the forces applied directly at the handle. This believes the work of stabilizing the tool to be carried out entirely by the wrist, leaving the wrist susceptible to problems associated with introducing bending moments through the wrist.
The problems associated with over loading the risk while bearing down on a handled tool have been recognized in the field of scraping tools. Most of these tools alleviate the loads on the wrist by providing a forearm brace. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,846 to Natale a scraping tool with a frame with a handle that is at a traverse position relative to the frame and with a forearm brace is taught. The problems associated with providing a force on a scraper's edge are significantly different from the problems associated with providing a force that bears down on a roller. An important difference between the problems associated with scrapers as compared to rollers is that when a force is used to drive a scraper into the material to be scraped, the edge of the scraper bites into and reacts against the force without having a tendency to move away or slip away out of the direction of the force.
Accordingly, scraping tools have component set allow the user of the scraping tool to deliver a force onto the edge of scraping tool without much concern about countering bending moments introduced by the need to overcome the tendency of the head is tool to slip away, as is encountered in tools with a roller at the working tip or head.
Scraping tools such as the scraper taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,561 to Hamilton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,981 to Wiese, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,700 to Pereira, approach the use of forearm support: and handle a forearm support to allow delivery of force directly into the blade of the scraper, but little by way of suggestion or teaching as to how to allow a user to deliver the large amount force through the handle or gripping portion tool to a roller, with a roller is to be used to squeeze or press against materials over different contours and different angled directions of travel.
It lightly above the can be appreciated that the remains in need for a roller tool that alleviates the bending moments on the user's wrist.
Moreover there remains a need allows user to use his weight to bear down on a roller used to squeeze or press layers of material together.
Still further remains need for a roller tool allows the user to adjust, with precision, the angle of the roller relative to the user forearm and wrist.